Monument honors Texas Vietnam vets

Updated 4:36 pm, Monday, September 17, 2012

Photo: Dan Wallach

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Terry B. Burkett, left, executive committee member of the Texas Capitol Vietnam Veterans Monument; John A. Miterko, center, legislative liaison of the Texas Coalition of Veterans Organizations; and State Rep. Wayne Smith, right, co-sponsor of a bill to include a Vietnam veterans monument at the state capitol, show a scale model of the monument at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. Dan Wallach/The Enterprise less

Terry B. Burkett, left, executive committee member of the Texas Capitol Vietnam Veterans Monument; John A. Miterko, center, legislative liaison of the Texas Coalition of Veterans Organizations; and State Rep. ... more

Photo: Dan Wallach

Monument honors Texas Vietnam vets

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The city of Beaumont is the first in Texas to step up with private donations toward building a monument for the state's Vietnam-era veterans intended for the state capitol's grounds.

Residents and businesses so far have contributed more than $60,000 toward building the $1.5 million bronze monument to be sited on the capitol ground's northeast corner, said Mayor Becky Ames at a reception for the monument's backers.

The monument, when built, will stand 14 feet tall from the base to the top of the figures, which will be 1.2 times life size. That means a 6-feet tall person would be 7 feet, 2 inches tall on the monument.

The figures include an infantry rifleman, a sniper, a radio operator, and a medic treating another wounded soldier.

The State Historical Commission will match contributions up to $500,000 toward the monument, said state Rep. Wayne Smith, R-Baytown, who sponsored a bill for it in the 2011 legislative session along with state Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, both of whom are Vietnam veterans.

Smith said there are other monuments on the capitol's grounds, including one for World War II, the Korean conflict and for Confederate soldiers, but none for Vietnam veterans.

Kerwin Stone, president of Chapter No. 292 of the Vietnam Veterans of America, said the monument has been a long time coming.

"It's a long time since the conflict came to an end," Stone said. "It's fitting and timely that our veterans are honored."